JERUSALEM — An Israeli soldier feared to have been abducted by Palestinian gunmen in a firefight
that shattered a temporary cease-fire in Gaza has been declared dead.

The military announced early today that Hadar Goldin, 23, of the Givati infantry brigade had
been killed in battle on Friday.

Israel’s defense minister, along with the chief military rabbi, met with the soldier’s family at
their home in the town of Kfar Saba.

Hundreds of people from throughout the country had gathered outside their home to pray and show
their support. There was an outpouring of grief when the military’s announcement was made
public.

The Israeli military had previously said it thought the soldier had been grabbed in a Hamas
ambush about an hour after an internationally brokered cease-fire took effect Friday morning.

Yesterday, Hamas distanced itself from the soldier’s alleged capture, which had prompted
widespread international condemnation.

Earlier yesterday, Israel signaled that it plans to scale back its military operation in Gaza
and said it will not participate for now in any cease-fire negotiations in Cairo with Hamas. But
the Islamic militant group suggested that it won’t hold its fire in the case of a unilateral
Israeli pullout, raising the prospect of renewed hostilities.

Israel continued to ht Gaza with airstrikes yesterday, killing at least 72 Palestinians, many in
the southern border town of Rafah where Israeli troops searched for the soldier.

In a televised address, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that the Israeli military
will reassess its Gaza operation once troops complete the demolition of Hamas tunnels under the
Gaza-Israel border.

“We promised to return the quiet to Israel and that is what we will do,” he said. “We will
continue to act until that goal is reached, however long it will take and with as much force
needed. Hamas needs to understand that it will pay an intolerable price as far as it is concerned
for continuing to fire.”

Since the Gaza war began July 8, at least 1,712 Palestinians, including many civilians, have
been killed and more than 9,000 have been wounded, Palestinian health official Ashraf al-Kidra
said. Israel has now lost

64 soldiers and three civilians, its highest death toll since its 2006 war with Lebanon’s
Hezbollah. Hundreds of soldiers have been wounded.

Large swaths of Gaza have been destroyed and about 250,000 people have been forced to flee their
homes.

In Israel, much of the country has been exposed to Hamas rocket attacks that have damaged homes
and infrastructure and caused injuries.

Earlier in the day, Cabinet Minister Yuval Steinitz said Israel won’t send a delegation to
proposed truce talks in Cairo for now. Speaking to Israel’s Channel 10 television station, he said
that Hamas repeatedly violated previous cease-fire deals.

Already, there were signs of troop redeployments in Gaza.

The Israeli military told residents of the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya that it would be
safe for them to return to their homes. The area, from which Gaza militants had fired rockets at
Israel in the past, came under heavy tank fire during Israel’s ground operation, forcing thousands
to flee.

Israeli troops and tanks also started a gradual pullback from the area east of the Gaza town of
Khan Younis to the border with Israel, residents and police officials there said.

Palestinian officials reported more than

150 Israeli airstrikes yesterday across Gaza.

The Israeli military said it struck 200 targets during the previous 24 hours. It said it
attacked five mosques that concealed weapons and that the Islamic University was being used as a
research and weapons manufacturing site for Hamas.

Gaza militants, meanwhile, fired about

90 rockets at Israel since midnight, according to the Israeli military. Seven were intercepted
by Israel’s rocket-defense system, it said.